HuffPost Australia building commercial team

HuffPost Australia, a joint venture between The Huffington Post and Fairfax Media, is forming a dedicated commercial team to support the next stage of growth for the global publisher’s local operations.

HuffPost Australia’s chief executive officer JJ Eastwood, who was appointed in August 2016, said: “I’m excited to be taking HuffPost Australia to the next stage of its growth. The formation of a dedicated sales team is an important step in continuing to drive the commercial success of our business, reaching almost 2 million Australians a month according to Nielsen.”

HuffPost Australia’s commercial team will be led by Ashleigh Thomas, who takes on the new role of head of advertising and commercial partnerships. Thomas was previously content studio producer at HuffPost Australia and prior to that worked in marketing and events roles at Fairfax Media.

“Thomas is an excellent ambassador of HuffPost Australia and will lead exciting plans for the brand’s continued growth,” Eastwood said.

Fairfax Media’s group director of digital ventures Guy Reypert said: “JJ and Ashleigh are a great combination, and will be a formidable force in driving commercial results for HuffPost Australia.

“Establishing a dedicated and specialist sales team for HuffPost Australia builds on the strong commercial foundation put in place by Fairfax’s network sales team since launching the site in August 2015.”

HuffPost Australia’s new commercial team is expected to be fully operational by March 31, 2017. Recruitment is under way for several account management and ad operations roles.